Colors
by ckrets
Summary: A painting lesson, Kataang style.


**A/N:** A Christmas gift to **wINDY12** at KataangForever. I do not own ATLA.

**Colors**

It was something she had never tried. It's not as if Katara wasn't interested in it, it's just that she never had the time. There was either something in the way or she was just too busy or she was merely exhausted. She never had the time to just sit down and _do_ this. Not until now, anyways. With the war over and less tensions among nations, Katara had much time on her hands.

Too much, to be honest. She would grow rather bored whenever Aang was busy tending to his Avatar duties. He still had plenty of time for her, but what was she was supposed to do while he was away? Sokka was off with Toph as they fulfilled their shenanigans, or with Suki, making out in Spirits knows where. Mai and Zuko always had political affairs. _Always._ And Iroh was off serving tea at the Jasmine Dragon.

The paintbrush was a stranger amidst her fingertips.

Katara exhaled in slowly. "Okay…" she muttered softly under her breath, "how do I do this?" She'd seen the not-too-fabulous paintings of her brother. But as she stared at the blank piece of parchment, Sokka's not-too-fabulous paintings appeared to be masterpieces. She stared at the jars that were spread evenly across the table. They stared back. Katara frowned, but their response was indifferent.

"This can't be too challenging," she reassured herself. Katara shrugged. "I have to try to find out." Hesitantly, she dipped the paintbrush in a jar filled with blue. Katara smeared the parchment with a thick stroke.

She grinned, "So far, so good." She continued to fill the parchment with blue until it took roughly one-third of the surface. Katara sighed in a self-satisfied manner.

"Time for another color."

Katara dipped her brush in a pool of yellow. When lifted it from the jar, the tip was green. Her brow furrowed.

"But I meant to get yellow," she whined. Katara caught Momo out of the corner of her eye. The flying lemur landed gracefully on top of her shoulder. "Hi Momo," Katara sighed, "I suppose you don't know some painting techniques."

Momo cocked his head and sniffed his armpits. He hopped off her shoulders and gazed at the painting as if he was actually studying it. Katara didn't speak; she wanted to see if Momo could actually contribute to her art in some way. It was an absurd thought, but…it couldn't hurt, right? She watched him sniff as his tail swayed back and forth, back and forth…

"Momo, _no,_" Katara gasped. The jars of paint were knocked over one by one by the swiftness of his tail. And as if Momo could sense Katara's pent-up rage, he sped off.

Katara groaned in frustration. "Momo…" she whispered. Oranges and reds and blues and greens and yellows spilled onto the parchment in a chaotic glob. The paint dripped off the table onto the floor in a gooey cascade. When Katara was too busy to notice the paint on her dress until now, that's when she had had enough.

"That's it," she hissed, "I'm giving up."

"Giving up what?"

Katara whipped around. "Aang?" she asked confusedly. "You're back so soon, sweetie."

Aang was standing at the post and lintel doorway. He picked at his teeth and shrugged, "Yeah, well my 'Avatar duties' are done for the day." Aang arched his eyebrow. "Is that…is that _paint_ on your dress?" He squinted. "And on the floor…and on the table and…"

Katara smiled sheepishly.

"Sweetie," Aang began in bewilderment, "what happened?"

Ugh. Katara didn't want to go into the depths of her mishaps, so she decided to be upfront with the situation. "I was trying to paint," she admitted, embarrassment evident on her cheeks.

Aang chuckled in good nature, as he usually did. He strode over to her, scanning the area. Paint was still trickling down the table, still spreading over Katara's sheet of parchment, with stains still unmistakably on her dress. He grinned and shook his head, causing his girlfriend to furrow her brows.

"Well sweetie?" she asked impatiently.

"It looks," he put on a quizzical expression. "It looks nice."

"Nice?" Katara gasped. Her face matched Aang's in perplexity. "You think it looks…nice?"

Aang rubbed the back of his head. "Well yeah," was his honest reply. "It looks kind of cool with all those colors mashed together."

Katara stood beside Aang, towering over her painted disaster. She shot her boyfriend a look, a look that grew more and more puzzled by the second. "But," she protested, "but this is worse than any of Sokka's paintings. I wasn't even aiming for this."

All she got in response was a "So?"

"So?" she asked through clenched teeth. "So it's not what I intended to create. I was trying to paint a landscape."

And then Aang laughed. And laughed. And _laughed._ At first, she thought he was mocking her attempt at landscape painting. But knowing him, it could have only been in his good nature. His laughter was so infectious, Katara couldn't manage to stifle a giggle. Aang's smile made hers brighten; his entire personality lit up her mood.

"You didn't _intend_ to find me in the iceberg, remember?" Aang stated. "You didn't _intend_ to get mixed up in my problems and my duties as the Avatar. Katara," Aang's fingers slipped inside Katara's as his eyes met hers. "Things don't always work as we want them to. But take a look around. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing."

Aang's eyes were soft and his facial features were quite relaxed. Katara, amazed at his wisdom, leaned into her boyfriend for a swift kiss. She sighed, "But my dress is still stained."

"Don't worry about it," he replied in a hearty chuckle. "We can deal with that later. In the meantime, I have an idea…"

The sun was shining and the skies were the shade of blue. Bowls of paint were cluttered onto pavement, a variety of colors on display. A giant bed sheet was spread across the ground as two shadows loomed over it.

"One." Aang glanced at his girlfriend eagerly.

Katara grinned, "Two."

"Three."

Paintbrushes tightly within their grasps, Aang and Katara thrust their arms in a swiveling motion, laughing. Paint splashed onto the bed sheet in an erratic array of colors, rich and vibrant colors. Aang splattered Katara with a fiery red paint, and she hit him spot on with a shade of green.

"You look silly," Katara giggled. She wiped paint off her forehead.

Aang flashed a toothy grin, "You too."

They both were braced for the imminent consequences, but they didn't care. Painting was no longer foreign or intimidating to Katara. It was a way of self-expression, of conveying emotion. Plus, it was downright fun. Especially with Aang. She exhaled deeply, letting tranquility wash over her.

Spirits, The Firelord would not be pleased when he finds out what they did to his bed sheet.


End file.
